In The Heat Of The Night
by IoIngridWeaver
Summary: Pepper is hiding secrets. SHIELD is hiding sins. And the Avengers remain clueless & blemished. A war is rising and the accused will be held responsible for the deeds of others. Now a team will be torn apart as the Brotherhood rises from the shadows determined to rip apart their enemies. And one codenamed Red stands among them, ready to protect her fellows no matter the cost.


If there is one thing Pepper Potts knows more than anything it is that secrets have their cost. They are never free and you will always end up paying for them; whether it be now or years in the future. And after keeping so many of her own secrets and those of others now it was her turn to pay.

And the price was the life she had spent almost two decades building for herself. And now everything was coming apart at the seams. After today she would no longer be known as Pepper Potts.

Pepper Potts would be dead and she would be forced to run away once more. Sinking to her knees and burying her head in her hands Pepper tried her best not to cry as she knew what she had to do. The part of her that was Pepper rebelled and tried to reason with the rest of her mind and soul. These were her friends and she had spent twelve years with Tony Stark. She had wormed her way into his life and heart and now his bed. But then the rational part of her mind countered with the irrefutable truth. These were the Avengers. And they were the puppets of SHIELD. They knew what had been happening and made no action to stop it. It did not bother any of them. She had seen the evidence herself and had watched as even Tony walked away and did nothing to help the poor souls SHIELD was experimenting on.

As soon as Ki had found her along with Azazel Pepper knew that she had to act. The time of running from who and what she was and who she had been was over. The time where she was ashamed of who she was ended now. She could no longer pretend and try and live this life with Tony. She could not be with a man who would turn a blind eye to her own kind. She had lived this life for too long. And this was the price she had to pay.

But even though this is what she had to do that did not mean it did not hurt. She was tearing her heart out for the good of her people and friends and family. Already William Stryker had taken her innocence long ago. It should not surprise her that it had come to this. The government and its people would never accept her kind. No matter what the price was Pepper knew they had to survive.

When she was a teenager and rescued along with Scott and Emma off of Three Mile Island it was Erik aka Magneto who had drilled into her mind before she left the Institute and began her life over again after learning all she could about control and peace and trying to be normal. The sad truth that Erik had drilled into her mind was that she was not normal nor would she ever be. It was an useless endeavor that would never end well. She was born different and if her secret was ever discovered she would be hated, persecuted, and become an outcast for it. And people would fear her because none of them would ever try to understand her. And what people feared they hated. And so she needed to learn to do whatever was necessary to survive. Only the fittest would survive and weakness could never be tolerated. Even after Magneto left to form his Brotherhood Pepper had always kept in contact with him. He was the closest thing aside from the Professor that she had to a father figure in her life.

She had always accepted what she was; but just because she accepted it did not mean she had to like it. But now look where she was. She had been happy until it all came crashing down around her. She had tried to be something aside from who she was and now all her life lay around her in ruins. And throughout it all everyone around her had never suspected a thing. They had never thought she was not Virginia Potts. But she knew who she was. Her name was Ginny Gwendolyn Lenore Cooper. Also known as Codename Red, best friend of Scott Summers, and arch enemy of the now dead Jean Grey. And she was an Alpha Class Mutant.

But no matter how much she tried she could not shake the name Pepper. Even through it was all a part of her mask she knew that it had become a part of who she was.

How long she was in that position Pepper did not know but as soon as she heard footsteps she knew that it was almost time. Almost time for her to leave and almost time for her to say goodbye to who she had become and get back to who she was.

"Pepper are you ok?" Looking up at the Black Widow who was tailed by Steve, no she shook her head, he was her opponent now he was the Captain not Steve ever again. She could not afford to personalize them anymore. Beside him was Hawkeye with his bow drawn and Thor with his hammer. Iron Man was being held up by Hill and Banner. And he his mask was off and he was staring at her with something akin to love and relief.

"We have to leave now. We think that the people who did this may be gone. But everything in the lower levels has been destroyed and but we need to go." the Widow continued.

Yes, everything in then lower levels had been blown to hell in order to end the suffering of those being experimented on and turned into nothing more than rats in a lab. Sniffling the tears back Pepper wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and then rose onto the balls of her feet. It was time to end this.

Bruce Banner watch worried as Pepper rose from her crouched position and then wiped tears away from her eyes. They were on the ground level of the SHIELD base in Arizona after beating back a group of strange opponents who had simply blown away the lower levels and were now gone. It had happened so fast and no one was ready for them.

Propping up Tony was hard work, especially in his armor which had not protected him from the blows of one of the invaders. Trying to catch his breath he watched as Pepper stood up to full height before removing her heels from her feet, which was not a good idea as glass was everywhere.

Apparently Natasha shared his thoughts as she approached Pepper with a worried face and opened her mouth to speak to her. And it was then that she struck.

Before anyone could even blink Pepper Potts struck Natasha with a punch straight to the windpipe and an elbow to the temple. The master assassin then fell to the ground hard in front of Pepper who then kicked her out of the way. In the following moment Clint raised his bow and Thor's arm with the hammer was raised. And Bruce felt Tony try to move to get to his fiancée.

Pepper then turned her gaze to them and it was then Bruce flinched. Now longer were her eyes welcoming and friendly and loving. Instead hatred and fury and pain was in those blue eyes. "Miss Potts what is going on?" Steve held his hands out as he tried to approach her but nothing prepared them out of nowhere a cloud of smoke filled the room as Steve was knocked down to the ground and Clint's bow was taken straight out of his hands by what looked like a tail.

Moments later two figures stood beside Pepper. One looked quite literally like the Devil as his skin burned red with scars and a tail floated behind him. On his other side was a shorter woman with blonde hair and dressed in army prints with a mask covering her eyes. Still in shock Bruce watched as Pepper removed the ring on the fourth finger of her left hand and threw it onto the ground where it landed right in front of Tony.

"Pepper…" the broken tone of his voice and gaze did nothing as Pepper linked her arm with that of the red creature. He then opened his mouth to speak as a Russian tinged voice filled the narrow corridor. "This is a warning to you, the Avengers, and to SHIELD. If you doubt us look to the lower levels. We are coming for you . The Brotherhood will not allow these travesties to continue for another moment. We are coming and blood will rain down as we avenge all of our brothers you have drained dry." with an evil smirk he then popped out of existence leaving only a cloud of smoke behind.

Ignoring Hill's command to stop Bruce let go of Tony and took off to the stairwell followed close behind by Thor and Steve. Opening to the door to a lab he was told was not being used he opened to and saw Hell. All around were beds with open bodies and surgical tools laying around. What looked to be a man with scaled and a woman with claws laid on the table open as x-rays and files laid on the ground and fluttering in the air.

Who he assumed were the scientists and nurses were pinned to the wall by various metal objects he thought could have been parts of the other metal beds. All of their them were dead from vicious wounds and all of them were hunched over. But his thoughts were interrupted by a couch. Looking to his right the woman with claws was struggling not to choke on blood.

Hurrying over to her side he asked her, "Who did this to you?"

Glaring at him she smirked as the light began to fade from her eyes, "You wanted their attention? Now you have it. They are coming for you."

"Who did this to you?"

"What a stupid question. You did this doctor Banner. You opened me up and cut me up."

Shaking his head Bruce tried to ask her again but she interrupted him with a glare filled with hate, "I know who did this to me. You kept me awake. But you could not break me." And as her breathing became more labored she then whispered her last words. "You failed. Mutant and Proud." she then died as her eyes closed and her lands fell limp.

Meanwhile hundreds of miles away Ginny Cooper codenamed Red shook as she launched herself into the arms of the one Scott Summers codenamed Cyclops. She was home. All that remained of Pepper Potts was an engagement ring that was being cradled in the hands of a bleeding and devastated Tony Stark aka Ironman.

She was home. And now she would do whatever was needed to protect herself and those she cared about. Pepper Potts was dead. Ginny Cooper aka Red was alive and breathing for the first time in fifteen years. And that is the way it would remain.

*******Part of an Epic series and crossover I have been planning for sometime. Do not worry all will be revealed. For those of you who did not figure it out this is an X-men crossover but only with all the films so anything is game. I would brush up on it if you do not know it. And I plan to stay true to the character of Pepper but I will twist her a little and give her a much needed edge, in my opinion anyways. This will be at most ten chapters and then the next installment will be up. I am planning around three to five installments in total. So hang on for the bumpy and breakneck turns that are coming. XOXO, Reed P.S. R&R!*************


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